Forgiveness

[nikkalmati]

No: HPFGUIDX 188722



--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" <foxmoth at ...> wrote:
>snip>
> 
> > 
> > Steve replies:  Actually, Riddle wasn't even a borderline case.  Until the age of 18, he couldn't even be diagnosed accurately as having a sociopathic or psychopathic condition...the DSM-IV doesn't become valid til age 18 and until there is a pervasive pattern of that serious behavior. 
> > >
> 
> Pippin:
> That's a good point. One of the things JKR does very well is illustrate why it's impossible to diagnose this condition in teenagers. It's  hard to develop any systematic way of distinguishing between the behavior of a normal teen who's acting out and an abnormal one who's become good at concealing his condition. But that doesn't mean that the symptoms aren't there, they're just hard to identify as such. IIRC, the best indicator of troubled behavior in an adult is abnormal behavior in childhood, so the fact that we don't know how to diagnose this kind of abnormality in a teenager who behaved abnormally as a child probably doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. 
> 

Nikkalmati

I believe that Bart is correct when he says (more or less paraphrased) that in a work of fiction we have to look at the resources of the author and her POV.  I do not believe that JKR intended us to consult the medical criteria for LV.  She strives to show us from the beginning that LV-TR is abnormal, cruel and without conscience.  He kills the rabbit (someone's pet presumably) and irrepribly damages two children while at the orphanage.  The director seems glad to be rid of him, not because she does not like him, but because she is a bit afraid of him.  He conceals his magic, not so he will fit in, but so he can use it against people.  Unlike Harry and Hermione, he does not feel wierd for having magic; rather he feels superior.  

The story emphasizes his antecedents at length and shows his uncle and grandfather as antisocial and degenerate.  I believe she wants us to believe that LV is a product of his bloodline.  His genetic line is not superior, but inferior, and he has inherited his base nature.  Does this line in the story go against the "choices" theme?  It sure does, but it is not the only contradiction I see in the story.

As for the "blood" of Harry, I find that the infusion of even a drop of his blood is intended to give LV a glimpse of normal behavior and extends the possibility of remorse and redemption.  However, LV is sunk too far in his sins to make his way out.  For him, the possiblity of redemption is symbolic only. 

Nikkalmati

>Pippin
  
> I don't think canon implies that Riddle stopped bullying people during his first five years at Hogwarts. He just found ways to do it that wouldn't get him in trouble and wouldn't make him unpopular. He already knew from the orphanage that he could do it without getting caught. 
> 

Nikkalmati

I do think he controlled himself at Hogwarts for the most part, as a better way of manipulating people and also because he knew DD was watching him.  Like many of the tyrants of history (with whom I am sure JKR is familiar) he becomes more sunk in evil as he continues with the Horcruxes and the murders, and less and less able to conceal his madness.  
 
Nikkalmati

<snip>

 

> Pippin
> 
> But canon is explicit about Dumbledore's hope for Voldemort. 
> 
> "His body keeps her sacrifice alive, and while that enchantment survives, so do you and so does Voldemort's one last hope for himself."
> snip<

Nikkalmati

I really think JKR included this psrt as a preparation for Harry's grand gesture in the Great Hall illustrating his greatness of spirit, rather than a real possibility LV will turn.

Nikkalmati